Enhanced UV-visible absorbance detection in capillary electrophoresis using modified T-shaped post-column flow cell

Abstract

The construction of the T-shaped post-column flow cell has been changed to enhance the practicability as a UV-visible absorbance detector for capillary electrophoresis. In this new design, a rectangular cube-shaped inner structure is employed, which completely fits the outer rectangular tubing. This arrangement has greatly facilitated the fabrication of the T-cells. In addition, the volume for the auxiliary flow has been dramatically reduced down to 300 muL, and its volume flow rate is optimized at 4.2 muL/min. The short optical path length in the sheath flows (500 mum on each side) minimizes back-ground absorption, and thus enhances its performance in low-UV wavelengths. We have optimized the auxiliary flow rate at 50 mum/s, so that migration times are insensitive to the flow rate. This optimization has improved repeatabilities in migration times and peak heights. A double-beam detection scheme using a pair of photodiodes is employed to increase the signal-to-noise ratio.